Chanel

Springy, Joyful Taupe and Plum

May 4th, 2021 by Karen 11 Comments

plum and taupe — Sometimes you just need 15 minutes and some time with makeup

Today’s minor victory? It has been two full weeks since my second shot, so I’m officially fully vaccinated! To celebrate, I ironed my shirt.

HA HA HA! No, seriously, one cannot embark upon “the after” as a wrinkly mess. I also put on some makeup, since wearing face paint with a crisp celebratory white shirt seemed like the right thing to do. 😊

I did a 15-minute quickie look with taupe lids and plum cheeks using mostly new-to-me makeup from Laura Mercier, Giorgio Armani, Chanel and Clinique, because I’ve been trying to expand my horizons a little with some new products.

plum and taupe products — A mix of new-to-me items and old faves

First impressions…

Giorgio Armani Lip Power in Confident: This creamy plum lipstick’s cup runneth over with pigment. It’s creamy, lightweight and doesn’t have an obnoxious flavor or scent. I especially like using it as a lip stain.

Chanel Ombre Premier Lacque in Desert Wind: This shimmery liquid shadow dries quickly, so you have to blend with speed and purpose. No time to dilly-dally! It’s also long lasting and quite shimmery.

Clinique Pretty Easy Liner in Brown: I’ve used the black version of this liquid liner for years, and the brown is just as easy to apply. It also lasts all day long.

Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in 4W: I’m only wearing this dual-ended brightening and camouflaging concealer in this look. No foundation at all. It’s lightweight but certainly covers everything. It also looks and feels natural, but dagnabbit if it doesn’t just slide right off my face, even when I set it with powder.

plum and taupe swatches — Plum lips and cheeks with taupe lids

Do you ever wear taupe lids with plum cheeks and lips? It’s a combo I like to wear all year long, but even more so now because the plum cheeks and plum lip stain feel very springy to me.

Makeup worn in this look

BASE: Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Brighten & Correct Duo in 4W, Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder
CHEEKS: Clinique Plum Pop
EYES: Chanel Boy de Chanel Eyebrow Pencil in Deep Brown, Chanel Ombre Premier Lacque in Desert Wind, Chanel Stylo Ombre Et Contour in Contour Clair, Clinique Pretty Easy Liner in Brown, Laura Mercier Caviar Volume Mascara, Chanel Espresso Liner
LIPS: Giorgio Armani in Lip Power in 600 Confident

Culinary adventures

Speaking of trying new things, last weekend I gave this vegan coconut rice and chickpea dish a go (got the recipe from Yeung Man Cooking).

Basically, it was just a’ight… I liked it enough to finish, but my eyes didn’t roll to the back of my head or anything.

I’m on a kick to find some great new recipes, so if you have one (or more!) you’ve made recently and love, send ’em my way! Thanks in advance.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

A Friday FOTD With Coffee-Colored Winged Liner and Bronze Lids, and New Crocs and Ugg Sandals

April 23rd, 2021 by Karen 14 Comments

You ever go through one of those indecisive periods when every decision you have to make is…extremely difficult? When I do, these episodes can last days, weeks, sometimes months. I’m experiencing one of these spells right meow, and it’s manifesting in multiple ways. Like, I’m currently transitioning all of my shoes to flats (no more heels for this girl), and I couldn’t decide between the Crocs Brooklyn Wedges and the Ugg Kari Sandals, so I ended up buying both. WHOOPS! In my shoe defense, both colors are basic and useful so I know I’ll wear them a lot. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself, hahaha!)

The white soles on the Uggs are makin’ me a little nervous because I can just see myself getting aggravated with every little speck of dirt, but a friend recommended trying a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to keep ’em looking fresh and clean. We’ll see!

Oh, and it just occurred to me right this second that these kinda look like the slippers that Filipino moms/aunties/grandmas threaten to spank you with when you start acting up, OMG!

If I had a dollar for every time someone threatened to palo me with their tsinelas, hahaha!

Can we talk about how the element of indecision has also crept into my lipstick life?! I originally paired these eyes (coffee winged liner and bronzed lids, which I’m feeling!) with a matte coral because a coral lip is so springy…

mac crossfade april 22 — MAC Powderkiss Lipstick in Crossfade

But I also like how a matte taupe-brown lipstick looks with it too, because it has a slight late ’90s vibe.

maybelline more taupe — Maybelline Ultimatte Lipsticks in More Taupe

Which one do you prefer? The coral or the brown?

jane iredale covergirl base — From the left: Maybelline Ultimatte Lipstick in More Taupe, MAC Powderkiss Lipstick in Cross Fade, Jane Iredale Enlighten Plus Under-eye Concealer in No. 2 and Covergirl Outlast Extreme Wear 3-in-1 foundation in 860 Classic Tan

MAKEUP WORN IN THIS LOOK

BASE: Covergirl Outlast Extreme Wear 3-in-1 foundation in 860 Classic Tan and Jane Iredale Enlighten Plus Under-eye Concealer in No. 2

EYES: Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara, Laura Mercier Eye Basics in Wheat, NARS Isolde Duo (lids), NARS Coconut Grove (eyeliner), NARS Bengali (outer corner), Chanel Espresso Liner, Chanel Boy de Chanel Brow Pencil in Deep Brown

CHEEKS: Laura Mercier Blush Colour Infusion in Chai, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer in Radiant Bronze Light

LIPS: Maybelline Ultimatte in More Taupe and MAC Crossfade

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!!!! 😃

Rainbow Nails and Bright Lips, Funfetti Cake, and the MAC Makeup in “Promising Young Woman”

March 23rd, 2021 by Karen 16 Comments

skittles mani mac all fired up — It’s a rainbow of color

For the record, it’s very, very awkward to take a picture of yourself that has your hands in it and have it look natural! Why do I feel like my paws look bigger than my head here? 🙄

I haven’t worn rainbow nails in a minute, but I absolutely HAD TO after we rented Promising Young Woman last weekend. It’s a thriller starring Carey Mulligan as Cassie, a young 30-something woman who experiences something traumatic that leads her to drop out of medical school, move back in with her parent and…pursue other ends. I don’t want to give away too much, but it involves some revenge.

Cassie wears a pastel rainbow manicure throughout the movie, and it’s front and center at a few key moments.

I’ve been reading about the styling for the film, and it turns out that the manicure was writer/director Emerald Fennell’s idea, and fun fact for ya — she’s the lady who plays Camilla Parker-Bowles in The Crown!

Symbolically, Cassie’s nails and makeup represent both her armor and a weapon. Her sweet girlishness at times conceals her anger.

I just wanted to wear rainbows on my hands to have a little fun, but I definitely appreciate using makeup as armor.

Pink: Smith & Cult Plastic Beach
Orange: Chanel Orange Fizz (no longer available, try Chanel Cruise)
Yellow: Sally Hansen Lemon Heaven
Mint Green: Sally Hansen Prince Char-Mint
Baby Blue: Essie First View

Near the end of the film, there’s a scene with Cassie in a candy-colored wig putting on a bright lipstick, and dagnabbit, even without my glasses on, and consequently being half-blind, I knew it was MAC. The movie’s makeup artist, Angie Wells, used MAC All Fired Up Retro Matte Lipstick.

I’m wearing it here with MAC Beet Lip Pencil.

Speaking of bright and colorful things…I got a gluten-free sprinkle boxed cake mix and a matching sprinkle cake frosting (both by Pillsbury) at Target a few weeks ago to make a cake, and you know what? It was pretty darned delicious. Both the boxed Funfetti cake and the frosting were surprisingly tasty and flavorful (I could really taste the vanilla). The cake was also light and fluffy, and the frosting spread easily.

Everything was so good that I went back to the store and got more for the next time I have to bake something last-minute!

You know that I’m totally 100% down to bake a cake and make frosting from scratch, but sometimes it’s sooooo nice to have something easy around for when you get a hankerin’ for cake.

While we’re on the topic of baking, look what I found at Michaels…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Warm Tones With Chanel Cream Eyeshadow Sticks and Rouge Coco Lipsticks, and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 💚

March 17th, 2021 by Karen 15 Comments

chanel warm tones coco lipstick — Swatches!

Wouldn’t it be just grand if every decision were only as complex as what lipstick to wear for the day!? Adulting is hard, man! Oh, well…

This week I’ve been working on the flooring project I talked about, which means trying to figure out when to start it, what material to use, whom to hire, how to test our existing tiles for asbestos since the home was built in the 1970s, figuring out how to remove the old carpet, whether we can coordinate the project to coincide with some repairs we have to do, which may or may not require us all to temporarily live someplace else with our cat while the work is done, which has been…challenging, but at least I figured out what lipstick to wear for the day! 🙂 That was easy, peasy, lemon squeezy compared to asbestos testing (OMG).

chanel rouge coco lipstick coco adrienne — I couldn’t decide between these two, so I tried both!

Yesterday I had the best time trying to figure out which of these Chanel Rouge Coco Lipsticks to wear… I mean, the orangey red shade is obviously fun and fierce and shiny. It sings “Spring is here!” Unsurprisingly, I also love the nude beige pink, which looks so elegant and sophisticated! They both have their own cool vibe.

chanel warm tones coco lipstick smile — Chanel Rouge Coco Lipstick in 416 Coco

chanel rouge coco adrienne — Chanel Rouge Coco Lipstick in 402 Adrienne

Ultimately, I went with the orangey red because I needed some “lipstick armor” to get through the day, but which one do you prefer?

Oh! — I’m wearing cream shadow in this look because these ones from Chanel are awesome. I’ve also been on a cream shadow kick. These double as shadows and liners, and, in case you’re wondering, yes, they’re comfortable on the waterline. Not drying at all! I’m wearing a matte light brown called Contour Clair on my lids and matte dark brown Rouge Noir on my lash and water lines.

chanel warm tones eyes down — I’m wearing Chanel Blush No. 20 cream blush on my cheeks with Chanel Malice powder blush on top.

chanel ombre et contour — From the left: Chanel Stylo Ombre Et Contour Eyeshadow-Liner-Khol in 12 Contour Clair, 04 Electric Brown, 08 Rouge Noir

I blended out the edges of the lighter brown with what I *thought* was a clean blending brush, so I was surprised when — whoops! — orangey brown appeared in my crease. Turns out I forgot I had used this particular brush with the UD Naked Wild West Palette, and it had some leftover matte brown in the bristles. I actually ended up liking how it turned out though!

Don’t ya just love fortuitous makeup accidents?

By the way, happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️💚 Connor Claire and I painted our nails green this morning to celebrate. She’s part Irish on El Hub’s side.

expressie express to impress swatch — Two layers of Expressive Express to Impress

I was going to make corned beef and cabbage in the Instant Pot, but eh…I might just make a Whole Food’s Frozen Cheese Pizza with some green broccoli on it instead! 😁

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Classic Smokey Eyes | Day 3 With the Honest Beauty Get It Together Eyeshadow Palette

February 25th, 2021 by Karen 5 Comments

The Honest Beauty eyeshadow palette comes with a card with four looks you can do with the palette. I followed the one called “Classic Smoky Eye” for this post, although with one tweak. I started by buffing the matte beige shade (Vanilla’d Velvet) all over my lids as a base so the subsequent colors would pop a little more.

I was a wee bit nervous about using the shimmery gold all over my lids and the shimmery dark purple on the outer corner because…I’m in my 40s now, and shine doesn’t always play well with my 40-something skin, particularly in the crease. Some may even say that I’m “overly picky about shimmery finishes,” *ahem*. Can you blame me though? One false move and you see every fine line!

Buuuut, I decided to go for it anyway, hoping that the matte beige underneath would tone down the shine, and it did!

As I was blending, I realized another reason to love this palette. The more you buff and swirl these shadows, the less intensely they shine, until they have more of a satiny finish. The finish ends up as a soft, pearly glow, which makes this classic smokey eye very workable for daytime wear! When I dropped Connor off at school this morning, I didn’t feel like I was wearing “too much.”

Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you — I found the most beautiful cream blush by Chanel! It’s Les Beiges Blush No. 20, a stick blush, $45 (!), but dang, lady! It’s so good. It’s a bronzy, peachy tan with the finest flecks of pearly gold, and it adds a hint of natural-looking color to cheeks. I love how easy it is to blend and that I can’t see it sitting on top of my skin or in my pores.

If you’re a real stickler for blush that doesn’t heavy on your cheeks, then you might want to consider it because it’s so natural-looking on skin.

FYI, if you’re lighter than I am, No. 20 will probably function more as a straight-up bronzer on your skin, and if you’re darker, then you might better off with one of Chanel’s brighter cream blushes like No. 21 or No. 22, since I’m betting No. 20 won’t show up as readily on darker skin.

Other things I’ve been into lately: mixing two shades of Honest Beauty liquid lipstick, namely Passion and Off Duty, to create the purrfect mid-toned coral pink; and wearing an old-school standby base combination with MAC Face and Body (I mix C4 and C5), set with the tiniest smidgen of MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder (my shade is Medium Golden).

Seriously, why did I ever take a break from wearing Face and Body? IT’S SO GOOD, especially for no-makeup makeup. I’ve talked about it ad nauseam on MBB for years, so if you’re relatively new here and want to know more about why it’s the stuff, hit me up in the comments and I will repeat myself once again, LOL! LOVE IT.

Oh, my gosh, one last thing before I leave you — have you seen the Britney Spears documentary on Hulu? I kept hearing about it, and I told myself, “OK, I’ll give this 10 minutes of my life, and that’s it,” but then I started watching it and I COULD. NOT. LOOK. AWAY.

The one-hour documentary by The New York Times charts Britney’s rise to fame, her very public issues in the press in the early 2000s, and the conservatorship that was placed on her in 2008, which some people believe was against her will. Some conspiracy theorists go so far as to think that her Instagram is an entire series of coded cries for help.

As you might know, I’m solidly on #TeamBritney, and so watching the doc left me with the hope that one day she’ll surprise us all (in the best possible, emotionally healthy way).

To Britney and all my ladies out there currently holding on, make that delicious lemonade out of those lemons, mama. You hang in there!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen